I have always been fascinated by how clear blue skies appear a day after the typhoon has gone. Sometimes I wonder how dark clouds and heavy rains could turn into blue skies and warm sunshine at almost no time at all. I look up and wish that life’s journey can be all sunshine and no storms. You know how sometimes you are in a beautiful moment in your life and you wish it will never end? But the thing is, life changes, people leave and nothing is permanent. Funny how fleeting magical moments are, and how dragging challenging ones are. One day with our loved ones is shorter than one minute with an adversary.
Some day I wish that challenges and struggles in life are like the typhoon. Typhoons come for a few days then leave. Problems usually come, take root and stay for a while. Come to think of it, however, typhoons may come for a day or two, but their aftermath is a totally different story. We spend months, sometimes even years, recovering from a storm that lasted a day or two.
Storms make me reflect about life. It’s amazing how nature teaches us lessons, only if we pause and take a closer look. The beauty of nature inspires us to slow down and breathe. Trees remind us of patience in growing. Flowers speak of blooming where we are planted. Leaves tell us of the faithfulness of our Creator in different seasons. The grass parallels the fact that we may be here today, and gone tomorrow. Roots emphasize that often the unseen are as important as those that are visible.
The calm before the storm gives us one last chance to take a good look at our lives. Have we been faithful in our everyday dealings with the people around us? Have we been giving our best at work? Have we been present for our families? Typhoons come after the forecast is released. But sadly, in life, storms come with no warning signs. You may be smiling and laughing now, only to find yourself in tears the next minute. I have always been scared of the calm before the storm, its uncertainty is paralyzing. But as I grew older, this fear is slowly being replaced by faith. As my husband will tell me, “the reason you are afraid of the calm before the storm is because you anticipate the storm coming. What if it there is actually no storm coming? Then you lost that opportunity to enjoy peace and calmness altogether.” There is wisdom in what he said. How many times have we actually worried about something that never happened? When have we given up that sense of peace for a turbulence that never came?
The storm… Some storms sweep us off where we stand, leaving an aftermath we take months to clean up. Some stay longer than expected, causing destruction left and right. There are storms that make us question if all our lives, we have not spent preparing. And there are those which make us doubt if past storms have taught us well. Many times it does not matter what we went through in the past. A storm comes by as a whirlwind shaking us, revealing our strengths, exposing our weaknesses, and ultimately testing our faith and hope.
Then comes the next morning, the blue skies are back, the feathery clouds float, and the sun gleaming in its glory. It’s like nothing happened. Such is life sometimes. On sunny days, we look back to the storms as though they never happened. Yet a closer look reminds us of the pain and devastation it brought. We look back and see the dark clouds, hear the thunder, tremble at the lightning. But today, even just for one day, I choose to bask under the warm sunshine, knowing that sometimes, the fiercest storm is needed to wash away the hurts and to reveal the clearest skies.
When a Teacher Writes 